(Newswire.net— January 25, 2022) — Joachim Johansson’s tennis career didn’t quite match up to some of his rivals, but that didn’t prevent him from troubling some of the sport’s top stars.
The former Swedish Davis Cup player won three titles as a professional, reaching the lofty heights of world number nine in 2005.
However, persistent injuries prevented Johansson from truly fulfilling his potential during what was a golden era for the sport.
One of his most notable career achievements came in the fourth round of the 2005 Australian Open when he faced United States tennis legend, Andre Agassi.
Johansson smashed 51 aces past Agassi, setting a new record for the most aces served in one match in a Grand Slam.
Ivo Karlovic subsequently equaled it at Wimbledon later that year, before setting a new mark of 55 aces against Lleyton Hewitt in the first round of the 2009 French Open.
Despite losing the record to the Croatian, Johansson looks back on his match against Agassi with fondness.
In a recent interview with Betway Insider, he said: “I played Andre Agassi in the Australian Open in 2005 when I was 23 years old,” he said.
“Unfortunately, I played the match before – I won 13-11 in the fifth set and I cramped in the last set for 24 games.
“Right before the match against Andre, we played at one o’clock and it was like 35 degrees.
“I cramped up when I was stretching about five minutes before we were walking on, so I had to rely on my serve a lot.
“He only did five unforced errors in the whole match, but I did 51 aces.”
While Johansson eventually lost in four sets against Agassi, this was not the only time that he caused problems for one of the world’s top players.
The tall Swede faced Rafael Nadal just once in his career and is one of just a handful of players who boast a perfect record against the Spaniard.
Johansson beat Nadal 6-4, 7-6 in the second round of the 2006 Stockholm Open in a match that Swedish fans would have clamored to watch on tennis live streaming sites.
The loss against Johansson marked Nadal’s lone defeat to a player outside the top 200 of the ATP singles rankings.
The Swede’s win was all the more remarkable given that he was ranked 690 in the world after shoulder surgery and subsequent elbow problems.
He fired down 17 aces against the Spaniard, following up his barrage of attacks with persistent charges to the net.
During an interview with the media after the game, Johansson claimed the result against Nadal was his ‘greatest ever win’.
Nadal was gracious in defeat, describing Johansson’s serve as top-five and predicting that he had the ability to battle back to the top of the game.
However, things didn’t go to plan for Johannsen, with further injuries forcing him to retire in February 2008.
He returned to the sport later the same year but finally hung up his racket in 2011 after struggling to match his previous efforts.
Despite this, Johansson’s performances against two of the world’s top stars have provided him with sporting memories that will last a lifetime.